Henry Cuellar, John Cornyn: Clock ticking on bill

Texas lawmakers Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar on Tuesday said they are aiming to pass legislation aimed at stemming the border crisis before the August recess.

“On the House side, we’re going to try to do our best to move this quickly,” Cuellar said of the bill he is co-sponsoring with Cornyn during an MSNBC interview with both lawmakers. “We’ve got to do this before July 31, when we take off for our districts.”

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Cornyn and Cuellar are set to officially unveil their bipartisan, bicameral HUMANE Act on Tuesday, a bill that would modify the 2008 William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act to treat undocumented children from Central America like those that come from Mexico.

“We want to make sure that all unaccompanied children are treated exactly the same, so that children of Central America are treated the same ways as kids coming over from Mexico and Canada,” Cornyn said during Tuesday’s interview, adding that undocumented children along the U.S.-Mexico border need an opportunity to present claims for asylum in a “timely basis.”

Cuellar also praised Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, with whom his Blue Dog Coalition met on Monday. “He gets it,” the congressman said of Johnson. Cuellar said Johnson told him that the bill indicates the Obama administration and the lawmakers are “on the same page” with regards to the border crisis.

In a CNN interview later Tuesday, the Democratic congressman said he thinks that lawmakers should not leave for August recess until Congress reaches an agreement on border legislation. “We should stay in Washington, D.C., to find this solution. Absolutely,” Cuellar said when asked if Congress should stay behind in Washington if they can’t reach a deal before the recess period. He said that while he can’t speak for his colleagues, he believes it’s important that “we stay here until we find that solution before we take off for the August work period.”

Cornyn and Cuellar’s legislation is aimed at creating a more streamlined situation along the border, which has been overwhelmed with more than 50,000 undocumented children since last October.

The bill would require children looking to stay in the U.S. to file a legal claim with an immigration court within a week of being screened by Department of Health and Human Services officials. A judge would then have 72 hours to make a determination about whether the child is eligible to stay in the U.S.; if not, the child will be sent back to their family in their home country.

The bill also calls for 40 new immigration court judges, as part of the plan to expedite a process that some have called too slow to deal with the buildup along the border.

Some Democrats, though, have criticized a potential change to the 2008 law as being unfair to undocumented minors, and many have appealed to a sense of compassion for a large number of children who fled dangerous situations in their home countries.

Cuellar has received flak from some within the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for trying trying to make it easier to send unaccompanied children back to their home countries in Central America.

“Henry Cuellar does not represent the Congressional Hispanic Caucus,” CHC Chairman Rubén Hinojosa said. “He’s a Blue Dog, he comes to the meetings once in a long time. … Cuellar does not speak for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the many other caucuses who are united with us.”

Cuellar has been outspoken against President Barack Obama’s handling of the border crisis, saying the White House has been “one step behind” on the issue and hoping that his inaction and refusal to visit the border wouldn’t become his “Katrina moment.”

For his part, Cornyn on Tuesday made an appeal for the legislation to Republicans who are concerned about border security. “It’s going to get worse unless we solve this problem,” the GOP senator said of illegal immigration, saying that Central American drug cartels have figured out how to take advantage of the 2008 law.